Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
Features Disc of the day
The Tony Williams Lifetime
Emergency!
(Polydor, 1969)
Fusion’s equivalent of Hendrix’s Are You Experienced?
Emergency! captures drummer Tony Williams, guitarist John McLaughlin and keyboard eccentric Larry Young (whose Hammond anchors the sound) creating the very blueprint for the entire jazz-rock genre. Recorded in two days in New York, the freeform jams of Sangria For Three and Carla Bley’s Vashkar ripple with the same acts of joyous musical abandonment that characterise Hendrix’s onstage improvisation. Indeed, the entire set’s live feel is made more thrilling by the audible buzz of the amps from the rapacious opening title track onwards. While the trio would enjoy little success during their initial time together (the jazz establishment baulked at the intensity and heaviness on offer), Miles Davis was so impressed that he sought to employ Lifetime as his backing band, an offer that his former charge Williams declined. The influence of Emergency!, however, is evident on Miles’s Bitches Brew, released some months later. McLaughlin too would take Lifetime’s creative spirit further, quitting the band after their second album Turn It Over (featuring Jack Bruce on bass) and forming the Mahavishnu Orchestra. While Williams would put together further incarnations of the band, Emergency! remains an outstanding debut whose restless energy is as urgent as its title suggests.
Phil Alexander
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 03/01/2008
Further Listening
Mahavishnu Orchestra – The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia, 1969)
Miles Davis – Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969)
The Tony Williams Lifetime – Turn It Over (Verve, 1970)
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Lifetime was the greatest fusion band ever! The addition of J. Bruce on bass in 1970 only made a great thing even better. If you like what you hear, make sure you get "Turn It Over" also, as this disk has more attack, while still using the sophistication that comes with jazz. There is a fantastic bootleg of a Nov, 1970 UK show floating around the net from this act. Head over to JazzfusionTV to hear.
Posted by LJ at 1:38 PM GMT 25/03/2009 Report Abuse
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